it's a crazy life, but it's mine

I know how incredibly busy we are.  I mean, all I have to do is look around my house and realize that some days we come in just long enough to sleep, and then we are off again for a new adventure.  Adventure?  Well maybe not too adventuresome, but our life is always some type of adventure.

Two weeks ago, Cydney stayed in Vega at a birthday party, Calleigh was walking in the Walk for Life in Amarillo, Carson was warming up for a football game in Amarillo, and I ran a quick errand with the few minutes I had between dropping Carson off and the actual game. 

As I was putting {over $100 worth...choke, choke} gas in my suburban, I decided to do a few calculations of just how busy the Kirkland family is.  The results were staggering, earth-shaking, and made me a little nauseous.

In a two week period....

          

          ...969 miles

          ...30 hours in the car (engine running....I assume we were in the car!)

          ...$275 in gas

Holy, moly!!!

Two more weekends of football...slow down?  Nope, still have a full calendar and Carson jumps right into basketball!!  So much for rest....

time

Last night as I crawled into bed, I noticed a Carebridge update from a lady I am following.  Most of the people on Carebridge are terminally ill, usually cancer.  I honestly don't know why I follow them because their stories break my heart.  Their stories have a impact to someone in my life, even if not directly connected to me.

As I was reading her update, she talked about the value of TIME in her life.  For her entire grown up life, she has taken time for granted.  But, her doctors have told her that 2-5 years would be a miracle for her.  Her life has been put into a new TIME perspective.

I laid in my bed sobbing.  I was hoping Robby couldn't hear my sniffles as he was drifting off to sleep.  She is teacher, she is a mom with young "threads," she has an amazing husband that she wants to spend  forever with.  JUST LIKE ME!!!

It really made me think about TIME.  We never know how much of we have left?  What do I do with my time?  Often times we fill every moment of our time with something.  We want to make sure our kids "experience" all of life.  We (as a family) don't want to miss a thing.

What if TIME changed for me?  What if TIME changed for you?  Are you content or satisfied with how your days are spent?  What would you do differently?  What would change?

I would focus less on making sure all the "chores" were finished and spend more TIME with my kids.  Thinking back to yesterday...Carson asked me to listen to his UIL Oral Reading story.  I remembered when he was already tucked in his bed, sound asleep.  Didn't get done.  I was more intently focused on  us cleaning out the car, wiping down windows, scrubbing the carpets because the car was driving me crazy!!!  I know for a fact I missed an opportunity to rock Cydney.

Quit honestly, there are things I so desperately want to change involving how we spend our time, but I just can't make the change happen.  I don't know how.  It all goes back to...we don't want to miss a thing.

TIME could change in the blink of an eye.

another year

It's funny how I have a hard time remembering details of last month, last week, or even yesterday for that matter.  But then there are moments that are etched on my heart.  So defining, it is as if the moment just happened.

Three years ago today, our precious baby girl made her grand appearance into this world.  A day that is forever etched on my heart...as with the birth of my other two kids.  (It funny how I can see it so clearly.)

It was our annual family trip to Wonderland.  Let me hear a WOOHOO!!!  I had an OB appointment, so I went in around lunch to the dr., was going to pre-register at the hospital, run errands, and meet the family for supper and a night of fun!!

I remember...

...being excited because this was the first OB appointment Dr. Carrillo would check if I had dilated.

...being disappointed when Dr. Carrillo was out of town and only the nurse would see me.  She wasn't even going to check me because I was still about 4 weeks from delivery.  I had been having contractions for about a month (since we walked 4,000 miles in Pittsburg and New York City...not one of my smarter decisions!)  But she did!!

...the shock as she said "You wanted to have a baby today!!  You're dilated to a 5!!"

...thinking Robby is working, we are going to Wonderland, my suitcase isn't even finished packing.  I have pre-registered at the hospital.

TODAY??  REALLY??

The nurse wouldn't let me move until she had called the hospital to tell them I was coming.  She made me feel like a ticking time bomb!!

...calling Robby while he was having lunch at his mom's.  I told him the news.  Part of me was so excited, yet nervous and scared...all in a moment.

...trying to coach my mom via the phone how to finish packing my bags and what to bring to the hospital.  Robby was just coming...nothing in hand but my pillows!!

...the nurse telling me to drive straight to the hospital.  The nurses were waiting my arrival.  Sounds so glamorous...not really!!

...the hospital was packed with mom's having babies or had just had a baby.  There were no rooms in the inn.  They had to just stick me in a triage room and wait, and wait, and wait!!!

Because Dr. Carrillo was out of town, I was in the hands of the doctor on call.  The first one didn't want any part of delivering me because Cydney was almost 4 weeks pre-term.  When he told us of all the problems that could occur with a baby that early, it sure didn't ease our nerves at all.  But still, I was dilated to a 5. (One thing I failed to mention is that with my other two babes, I delivered both in 30 minutes or less of pushing.  Yeah, I know.  I just lost some of you right there!  Life isn't fair sometimes.  I am sorry some of you had to push for days!!)

Thankfully Dr. Carrasco came to our rescue and realized I could not go home.  They admitted me, moved me to a room, gave me an epidural (which didn't work), broke my water, and we had a baby.

I remember...

...feeling horrible during delivery.  Childbirth hurts without epidurals.  I was throwing up.  Not comparable to the cake walk of my other two.

...the moment she was born, it all went away.

...the first time I saw Dr. Carrasco hold her up.  Oh my, she was so tiny.  She only weighed 5 pounds 10 ounces.  It was almost as if she was a baby doll.

I am so thankful for the that precious blessing.  She brings us so much joy everyday.  She is pretty darn cute too!!

Today, we celebrated her birthday with just us.  Three year well check at the pediatrician.  You will be happy to know she has come a LONG way since 5 pounds, 10 ounces.  She has made up for it!!  Calleigh bought her a princess sash...that she won't wear.  Tomorrow is the birthday party.  She is so excited!!  We were walking tonight at a friend's birthday party, and she told me "I just want a birthday party."  Awww!!

Tonight as she climbed into my bed, she hollered at her dad.  "Dad, I love you!!"  He replied with I love you too Cydney.  About a minute later..."Dad, I still love you!!"

It's the little things that make the world go round.  Happy birthday Cydney Claire.  We love you dearly!!

Dad, Mom, Calleigh & Carson

85 years

Only about a month ago, I sure didn't think my precious grandmother would be celebrating her 85th birthday with a celebration at our house.  What a double blessing to have her this past weekend.  About a month ago, she became seriously ill and doctors weren't quit sure what to diagnose her with.  Honestly, I am not sure they still know, but they said encephalitis.  What I do know is she was a very sick little lady.

Praise Jesus, she has made a great recovery and was able to come to our home to celebrate her birthday with a cookout and birthday cake.  Even at 85 years old, a birthday wouldn't be a birthday without cake and ice cream.  She deserves it!

A few of her great-grands enjoyed crowding around to help her "blow" our her candles.  (No, we didn't put 85 candles on the cake!) I think she had a pretty good time celebrating with them as well.

What a pleasure to be able to celebrate my precious Grandmiere...I love you!!!

all in a days work

the beach

home

After 17 days, 3 destinations, 6 planes rides, 2 rental cars and 6 hotels....WE ARE FINALLY ALL HOME!!! And oh my, does it ever feel good.

I forgot how much I loved my house.  I love my dust.  I love my own washing machine.  I love cooking in my kitchen.  I love sitting on my comfy couches.  I love driving my very own suburban.  I love having more than one room to hang out in as we did in our hotels. I love NOT having to live out of a suitcase.  I just love being home.

But we had so much fun!!!  Disney was a huge success for all, especially Cydney Claire.  Her favorite was probably Minnie Mouse, but when she picked her souvenir...she chose PIGLET!! The big kids favorite was probably Hollywood Studios.  There were big, fun, fast, and exciting rides there.

After several days of Disney, it was nice and relaxing to dip our toes in the water in Marco.  The beautiful tan that came along with that was definitely a plus for me.

Telling my boys good-bye brought tears.  (I am not good at good-byes!)  But the girls and I headed to Virginia for a busy week of Bluedevil basketball.  We didn't fair as well as we had like at the National Tournament, although they did very well.  They placed about 13th out of 34 very good ball teams.  I am super proud of those Texas Bluedevils.

Finally...we flew home with a quick overnight stay in Amarillo for a family reunion.  It is always good to see family that we don't see often.  Sure would have loved to have seen them longer.

But home never felt so good!!

here we go....

As we speak, we have hopped a Southwest bird for hot & sunny Florida.

The Kirkland Klan is on vacation with Mimi & Poppy and the Schroeder crew.

While away, we hope to meet up with Mickey and Minnie.

and a few other Disney characters for handshakes, hugs and autographs.

We even hope to see a princess or two for a quick photo.  Of course, we will be taking several princesses of our own on this trip.

You may know them as..........

Princess Cydney

Princess Calleigh and Princess Bailey

We will visit many kinds of animals at 

Then have some fun at 

Moms and Dads and Mimi and Poppy will need a break from all this fun, so we are headed to Marco Island Florida for the Florida Cattleman's Convention.

I plan to sit on this very beach and soak up some Florida rays. 

Bumming at the beach is my idea of a vacation.

But my kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this pool.
So here is where we will spend hours and hours.

Which is fine by me!!!

Here we will also visit many feedyard customers friends.  I am really looking forward to this.

Then Calleigh, Cydney and I (and the Schroeder crew) will put Mimi and all the boys on a plane home while we jet to 

Hampton, Virgina

for

you guessed it....

a basketball tournament!!!!

Bluedevils will play in the AAU National Tournament. 

We are so excited and hoping for a CHAMPIONSHIP!!

Follow us on Facebook for up to the minute updates.

I will try to keep this blog updated with pictures from all of our summer vacation adventures.

Just typing all this and internalizing what all is going on makes me TIRED!!!

new kitten

Meet Cinderella Snowflake Sophie (Cydney chose Cinderella, but was quickly overruled by her brother and sister.  So Snowflake it is.) Update...her name changed again.  This morning it is Sophie!!

The newest, tiniest, most scared member of the Kirkland Klan.
Bless her heart, she was just thrown into the lions den kids that can't keep their hands off of her.

Cydney is certain that wants to be anywhere BUT a nice quiet place where children can't reach her.  Preferably under the lamp table next to the couch.  The picture above is Snowflake in her quiet solitude before a child came along and snatched her.

Right into little hands that hold much too tight for her liking.  Voices that talk much louder than the home she came from.

summer top 10

It's here...summertime.  I absolutely love summer.  Not because it means I don't have to get up and go to work, but because I don't have to go to work.  I know that makes absolutely no sense, but it just seems as if life slows down for a brief amount of time.  I love every moment of it.

10.  I love that my yard is usually full of kids playing in the water or doing something fun.  This is one of the greatest things of living in a small town...the kids can go play pretty much anywhere on our side of town and I don't really worry about where they are, who they are with, or what they are doing.

9. I love spending afternoons at the pool.  It makes for a very tired momma and babes, but the time is so worth it.  For as long as I can remember, my two older babes were little fish.  They always loved being in the water.  And could play in for hours on end.  Cydney hasn't taken to water as quickly as the older two, but after today at the pool I have high hopes we will get there.

8.  I love feeling like I have accomplished something during a day.  My house is usually not always clean, but the kids and I do get chores accomplished and it feels good.

7.  Coffee in the old blue rocking chair.  I am sure I have posted before how I love having coffee in our blue recliner.  Robby and I bought it when we first married...16 years ago.  It has rocked all my babies and provided many a good nap for all members of the family.  I love climbing in it first thing of a morning and rocking while enjoying a cup of coffee.

6. Sleeping In.  I am a huge fan of sleeping in (and then moving to the rocking chair).  Thankfully my kids are sleepers too and we do enjoy late mornings through the summer.  Sleeping in actually makes me feel really lazy!!!

5. House cleaning and organizing.  No, I don't love the actual process of cleaning my house, but the end product when it all looks nice, neat, and freshly organized is such a wonderful feeling.  It makes me feel like I have really accomplished something!!

4.  Cookouts & hanging out on our patio.  I love, love, love sitting on our back porch of an evening and watching the kids play in the yard.  We have a huge yard that is great for water games, football games, or just about whatever games the kids want to play.  The evenings have been so windy lately (and don't look promising in the next week), but I still love back porch time.

3.  Staying up late.  My true ME is a night owl.  If I could choose, I would stay up late and sleep in, but that rarely happens because of work.  In the summer, I do enjoy staying up late of an evening.  It is one of the few quiet moments in my day.  Robby and the kids are sleeping while I get a few things accomplished...catch up here on my blog, read a book, watch Grey's Anatomy from many weeks past, or just whatever I choose.

2. Vacation time...As much as I love being home (because we really aren't home all that much during the school year), I do love traveling and going on vacations with my family.  It's always a fun time for our family to spend time together.  This summer we will be traveling to Disney World in Orlando, then on to Marco Island for Florida Cattleman's Convention.  Calleigh, Cydney and I will go straight to Hampton, VA for the AAU National Tourney while the boys fly home.  They we will all meet back at a family reunion.  All in all...the us girls will spend 18 nights away from home IN A ROW!!!  I have never been gone this long in my life. It scares me a little!!

The number one thing I love about summer is just being able to hang out with my kids.  Things are more relaxed and we can just chill and have fun!!!

Hope your summer is amazing!!!  Be blessed..

growing up

There is probably nothing in life that creates such mixed emotions as my children growing up.  I love each new stage they enter.  I love how the mother-child relationship changes through each new stage of childhood.  I love that my children take on a new level of independence and responsibility.  I love most that their hearts begin to mature and in tender moments their sweetness comes pouring through.

One of these such moments happened last night.  The son of one of our of dear family friends fell last night on his rip stick and broke his arm terribly.  When Calleigh came home from practicing basketball at the gym, she sent a text to all of friends that made my mother heart smile and tears come to my eyes.
     
     "Please pray for Tate.  He was doing something and broke his arm. Will possible have surgrey.  We are pray for fast recovery and healing.  Please pray!!"

Through the misspelling and missing words, the meaning came through loud and clear.  It touched my heart that she would call her friends to pray for their friend.  She is growing up and maturing.

Over the last months she has been asking if she could start shaving her legs.  In my mind, I had a clear cut time frame for these things to happen.  Fifth grade wasn't really what I had planned.  But, I also hadn't planned on her being so mature and grown up in fifth grade either.  I tried to blow if off and put her off at first.  That only lasted a little while.  She was persistent.  Hairy legs "embarrass" her.

I gave in.  As I sat on the bathtub this week showing her how to shave her legs, I had a smile on my face, but an ache in my heart as I realized another sign of her growing up.  As much as I love the young lady that she is becoming...I HATE IT!!!

I was doing some cleaning last night and came across a picture we took on our cruise just last summer.  I couldn't believe how much she has changed in a few short months.  She is losing her little girl looks and changing into a beautiful young lady...inside and out.

Treasure the moments with your babes...they will be gone much to soon!!!

Be blessed,

looking for beetles

On most days she is my girly girl.

But even in her dress, flip-flops, bow and...

a sucker.  She looks for beetles!!

a little reminder

Just laying around as a subtle reminder of the jobs that didn't get finished during Spring Break.  Reminding me, I should must go through their drawers.  I keep telling myself I am not buying a thing for summer until we have gone through and cleaned out old clothes.  But, I don't want to!!  My kids hate it!!  It would be such a relief to get this reminder off my kitchen counter.  Oh no, then I will never get it done.  On the counter-top it must stay until the job is done.

hills

As I look out my back door, in the pasture that lies behind the yard, there are 5 very small hills.  Why we have these hills in our back pasture is really beyond me.  I have no idea who created them, or why one would create these 5 hills...so small, but evenly spaced.  It strikes me as rather odd.

However, for Cydney Claire, and the other munchkins of the neighborhood, they provide lots of good entertainment.  When the kids ride their go-cart, they love to ride it over each of the hills.  Often getting high centered and someone having to push the go-cart off.

But with Cydney, it's not the go-cart that is most entertaining.  It is running the hills.  On many days, she will head to the pasture as we are feeding the calves or doing chores in the yard and run the hills.  Up, down, up, down, up, down.  Every now and then, the small hill that it is, poses a struggle and she must dig in to make it over.

Always careful to keep her sucker safe from any mishaps.

Not really sure why this is so entertaining, but it sure makes me smile.  Hope you smile too!!

just a walk

There are many days that I don't blog, for I feel I simply have nothing to blog about.  But, just a short walk through the yard with my camera and many things caught my eye to share.  It's amazing what lies just beyond my eyes that remind of life as it was just a short time ago and how it can change in such a quick time.

Beyond the swing set, beyond the trees, lying against the fence are Carson's old Tonka trucks.  Unused, but well loved.  Tossed aside because he is much older now.  He rides bikes, plays football and basketball, build forts, and many other things.  But digging with Tonka trucks is not on his list of activities anymore.

It really wasn't all that many years ago that he was a cotton top little boy that spent hours digging in his sandbox with his trucks.  But things change.  Time flies.

It was just a walk through the yard, yet it brought so many memories of where we've been and how far we have come.

spring break top 10

10.  The time changed, and we were able to sleep late to catch that hour back.

9.  The yard has it's first mowing of the summer, and it's all fertilized.  Now if only a rain to make it turn green and grow like crazy!!  I even got a little sun on my arms and legs among all that work.  Well worth my efforts.

8.  Cleaned out drawers and started a garage sale pile box boxes.  Now only a few more closets, and it will be time to start back at the beginning and clean out again.  How do we accumulate so much JUNK???

7.  Cleaned our house from top to bottom, corner to corner.  Except for that cobweb we missed in the bathroom.

6.  Stayed up late, slept in, napped, pajamas, coffee in the old blue rocker, snuggling, and bein' lazy!!

5.  A glass of wine with my girlfriends to catch up on life.

4.  Friends, family, cookouts!!!

3.  Beautiful sunshine that allowed the kids to play, play, play. Carson is already beginning to get a sun tan face.

2.  Date night with the hubs!!  We even went to eat sushi!!!  yummy!!!  I love that guy!!!

And the #1 thing about spring break at our house was...WE WERE HOME!!!!

Only 10 more Mondays 'til summer...YIPEEE!!!

time change

I have never been a huge fan of time change, but I certainly like "falling back" rather than "springing forward." Some how we manage to adjust through the week.  However, this time change has wrecked havoc on our schedule.  We visited at friends house on Saturday night and crawled in bed much too late, especially with losing an hour.  We sleepily crawled out of bed Sunday morning for church, and we were super excited for nap time after lunch.  We couldn't crawl in our napping spot quickly enough....except for the kids who gave the proverbial "I am not tired!" excuse.

Two and half or three hour later, we all managed to pry our eyelids open and crawl out of bed.  Of course...the rest of the day was running behind.  Playtime went on for hours and hours before we finally managed to eat dinner at 9:30.  YES!!  That is crazy late!!!!  About 1:00 (in the morning), my eyelids were wide open.  I knew I was in trouble.

Thankfully the kids slept in this morning, but now the kids and I are on a completely different schedule than poor Robby who isn't able to have Spring Break.  This is one of the very reasons that Robby dislikes summer and school breaks are not Robby's favorite....we sleep in and stay up late.  He gets up early...very early and needs to go to bed early.  Except for when we don't!!

I have to say that I am so thankful that "spring forward" fell during Spring Break.  I think it should happen this way EVERY YEAR!!!  This sure makes it so much easier to catch that hour back.

ordinary days

For the past few months, I have been thinking how I needed to get back to blogging, but just simply didn't sit down long enough to do it, or I really didn't feel I had anything to say.  Mostly because nothing really exciting goes on in our day to day lives.  Nothing many others would surely care much about anyway.  But, this week I watched a YouTube video about ordinary days, and realized I should be so grateful for ordinary days of cereal for breakfast, uneventful school days, kids not wanting to do homework, chores, cooking dinner, baths, and finally tucking them all in bed before I fall into bed myself.




So, as I woke this morning, I try to appreciate the gift of an ordinary day.  It may be wild, crazy, and try my patience from beginning to end.  But I love being the mom of this crazy crew!!!

For now, I will try to do better to share our ordinary days.  Blessings!!!

thankful for the harvest

It’s harvest time in our neck of the woods.  As the harvest time grows near, we are always in high anticipation for our crops.  This year I find myself with a bit higher expectations due to the incredible moisture we had during the winter months.  As the spring rolls around and our expectations are high, we always fear what weather may come our way.  It is not unusual for spring and summer to bring heavy rains and hail....even tornadoes from time to time.

The Lord has shown his favor on us this year...we have had rain when we needed moisture, and held off dangerous storms that would ruin our crops.  For this...we are extremely grateful!!

This week we ventured out to the wheat fields for one last peek before the fields are harvested.  

Thank you Lord for the harvest!!!

a mother's dream

As a mother, I have so many dreams for my children.  I think every mother has incredible dreams for each of her children.  It’s part of the job.

• I dream for my children to have a college education, to have a great job that challenges them and doing something they love to do.  
• I dream for my children to each find a spouse they care the same type of marriage that Robby and I have.
• I dream for my children to have friends that encourage them, support them, and hold them accountable i life.
• I dream for children to share in the joys of parenthood.
• I dream for my children to live a life of prosperity and fullness.
• I dream for my children to have so much love that their cup runneth over.
• I dream for my children to happy, no matter where the road of life leads them.
• I dream this....and so much more for my babies (growing babies!)  One of this mom’s dreams came true a few weeks ago when I was able to sit on the front row close to the front and watch Calleigh and Carson be baptized!!!  It was an unforgettable moment that will forever be etched on my heart.  To know that my children will walk with Jesus...makes my own cup runneth over.  I was such a precious moment!!

I dream for my children to have an intimate relationship with their Heavenly Father and know the love and joy of a relationship with Him.


Be blessed!!!